Better Together: marketing lessons from one of the major acquisitions in Energy & Tech (the abstract)

In January 2014 the industrial automation giant Schneider Electric acquired Invensys plc thus expanding its product offering in the field of Control Systems, Software and Services. As a global specialist in energy management with operations in more than 100 countries, Schneider Electric offers integrated solutions across multiple market segments, including energy and infrastructure, industrial processes, building and data centers/networks, and a broad presence in residential applications.

With this acquisition, Schneider Electric has significantly enhanced its position as a provider of Energy management solutions integrating power and automation. In fact, the acquisition of Invensys has provided Schneider Electric with a strong portfolio of complementary products in several sectors including the Oil and Gas one – and competency in Cybersecurity management.

From a branding perspective Invensys brought several independent brands which had to be integrated within Schneider Electric’s portfolio. The team in charge of the integration process had to define a path for each brand that had to be consistent with the Schneider Electric one-brand strategy, which is based on customer install base, geographical scope and overall brand equity.

The communication plan was tailored to the customers and channels and the communication assets were generated with a special focus to customer types. Communications plan included an integrated marketing campaign (“Better Together”) that was launched in September 2014 and which used Social Media channels to ramp up and reach the right audience.

The session will go through the most relevant steps of the acquisition, and will focus on marketing and communications approach explaining the decisions taken on branding, communication and campaigns. Real-case scenario’s examples and a Q&A session will complete and close the session.